The present invention relates to a material drying arrangement and more particularly to a unified apparatus and method for drying materials such as fabric in a selected location with a drying stream modulated in flow and temperature by a blower and heating member, respectively, which are controlled in accordance with coordinated sensed upstream and downstream temperatures and relative humidity.
It is known in the prior art to utilize dryer apparatus responsive to either or both sensed temperatures and relative humidities. In this regard, attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,707, issued to S. Bochan on May 2, 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,166, issued to S. L. McMillan on Nov. 4, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,643, issued to J. C. Hariedon on May 19, 1981 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,893, issued to R. K. Narang on Jan. 9, 1990. These four patents teach various arrangements for clothes dryers responsive to sensed temperatures in heated drying air. Attention is further direct to U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,121, issued to P. S. Khadkikar, et al, on Jun. 27, 2000 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,840, issued to N. W. Chbat et al on Sep. 26, 2000, both of which teach arrangements wherein clothes dryers are responsive to humidity changes. In addition, attention is directed to the three U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,765, issued to M. Holst et al on May 31, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,310, issued to Y-T Chen et al on Aug. 8, 2000 and to U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,887 issued to Y-T Chen et al on Nov. 7, 2000, all three of which patents teach clothes dryer arrangement wherein clothes dryers are responsive to both sensed temperatures and humiditiesxe2x80x94it being noted that U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,765, senses temperature and humidity at both clothes dryer intake and exhaust. Finally, attention is directedxe2x80x94as of general interestxe2x80x94to the clothes dryer arrangements of U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,554, issued to N. J. Bullock et al on Oct. 15, 1985 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,680, issued to W. D. Barritt on Sep. 19, 2000, it being noted that the majority of the above referenced patents are directed to clothes dryer structure adapted in residential usage wherein clothes drying loads are substantially less than the larger loads familiar in commercial drying situations.
The present invention provides a unique material drying arrangement which can be utilized for both commercial and residential drying, which provides a novel healing and ventilating arrangement requiring a minimum of novel parts to construct and maintain and which provides a minimum of novel steps to operate. The present invention further provides for comparatively more efficient, economical, and straight forward operational control with a comparatively larger energy savings, efficiently utilizing less energy with the efficient consumption of lower amounts of gas and electrical energy.
It is to be understood that various other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.
More particularly the present invention provides a unique and novel material dryer apparatus including a housing with a drying basket disposed therein and having a drying stream heater and blower associated therewith, a control arrangement for the dryer apparatus comprising: temperature sensing means disposed to sense the drying stream temperatures entering upstream and exiting downstream the drying means; relative humidity sensing means disposed to sense the drying stream relative humidity entering upstream and existing downstream the drying basket; and control means connected to the temperature sensing means and the relative humidity sensing mean, the control means being connected to the heater and the blower to cooperatively and intermittently modulate drying heat input and drying stream volume delivery in the heater and the blower with respect to each other and in accordance with sensed temperatures and relative humidity levels entering upstream and exiting downstream the said dryer basket.
Further, the present invention provides a unique and novel method of drying material to a selected moisture level comprising: introducing the material in a drying zone; measuring the temperature and relative humidity of a material drying stream passing through the drying zone along both at the upstream inlet and downstream outlet of the drying zone; and cooperatively and intermittently controlling the heating and flow of the drying stream passed through the drying zone with respect to measured upstream and downstream temperature and relative humidity whereby material removed from said drying zone has a select moisture level for further treatment with selected drying of the material being accomplished at an optimal energy level.
It is to be understood that one or more changes can be made by one skilled in the art in one or more of the several parts of the apparatus disclosed herein and in one or more of the several steps of the method disclosed herein without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. Further, it is to be understood the unique and novel unified apparatus and method as disclosed is not to be considered as limited to fabric treatment such as clothing or garments but can be utilized in other heating and ventilating environments where temperature and relative humidity control are involved. Moreover, although the unified arrangement herein disclosed has significant energy saving capabilities in commercial environments it would also have such similar capabilities in residential environments.